Transport panel clears 50 diesel buses for CNG switch in Nagpur
The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) transport committee on Saturday gave nod to civic administration’s proposal to convert 50 diesel-run buses into CNG on trial basis. Now, the proposal will be tabled before the general body, said committee chairman Narendra alias Bunty Kukde, adding that NMC was targeting to launch the CNG buses on city roads on January 26. Recently, the NMC steering committee gave nod to a proposal submitted by Rawmatt Industries Private Limited to convert diesel buses into CNG. Kukde said that the firm had, in principle, agreed to bear the expenditure of installing CNG kits costing between Rs3 lakh and Rs3.25 lakh. “The firm will be recovering the amount from the operators by charging Rs5 extra for every kilogram of the gas. The cost of CNG will be Rs60 per kg,” he said. He said currently diesel buses are giving a mileage of 3km per litre of diesel while it will be 4km per kg of CNG. This move will also reduce the NMC’s expenditure on Aapli Bus. Currently, for operating 150 standard buses NMC pays Rs52 per km per bus to the three Red bus operators. With CNG, this cost will reduce to Rs45-47 per km. “One of the Red bus operators — M/s Travel Times — has agreed with the proposal. So, on a trial basis, a mother station for CNG will be developed at Khapri depot. The NMC has also agreed in-principle to provide 20,000 sq ft land for installation of CNG fuel dispensing systems,” said Kukde. The panel also gave nod to run three bio-fuel buses, said Kukde. To a query, he said the NMC is also trying hard to resume ethanol-run buses and standing committee chairman Virendra Kukreja has earmarked Rs5 crore for the Green Bus operator Scania Commercial Vehicles India Pvt Ltd for the purpose.
